Gillaroo

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Plans and crew
The Build
2003

Design
Model
Workshop & Table
Infusion
2004
Assembling hulls
2005
Hull Bulkheads
Bridgedeck Floor
Superstructure
2006
Completing Shell
Interior
2007
Painting
Interior
Exterior
2008
Completion
Rig
Summary
Time and Materials
Links and Suppliers

The Launch
2008
First time
Relaunch

Cruising
2008

Ireland
N.Spain
Portugal & Tarifa
Canaries

Cruising
2009

St Vincent & Grenadines
Trinidad & Tobago
Dutch Antilles
San Blas Islands (Panama)
San Blas canoes
Panama
Panama Canal
Panama - Perlas Islands
Galapagos
Galapagos
Marquesas
Marquesas
Tuomotos
Societies
Societies
Cooks
Cooks
Niue
Tonga
Tonga
New Zealand


Jonty and his punt. It was made from scrap fibreglass from my failed infusion of the first hull panel !

Hull Bulkheads
Spring 2005 and I was joined by my old school friend Jonty for the seasons work. In our climate a reasonable working year is April - October though have to keep a careful eye on temperature and humidity towards the end.

The first job was to flip the two hulls and build a jig to hold them in place. This was difficult enough with the two of us but possible with the application of assorted pulley systems and levering planks. Leveling the hulls out was more difficult as because with the panels not being perfect a line across the sheer was not as horizontal as it should have been. On reflection should have marked the Datum line clearly and permanently on all panels.

The process of making and fitting bulkheads was largely straightforward. I made the panels on the table, usually using vacuum bagging rather than infusion because I found it almost twice as fast. Fortunately I had marked all the stations along the hull panels so positioning bulkheads was OK. When we came to the main cockpit/saloon bulkhead discovered that the polytunnel was too low (I did work it out when constructing the polytunnel but the boat seems to have grown !) so after much consideration we decided to sink the boat by 30cm - the advantages of an earthen floor.